Twist in Time
by Zapple
Summary: A different answer to an important decision
1. Mixed Emotions

"_I know what I have to do now… if I want to save him."_

Making her way back from the sewers, Litchi returned to her clinic in Orient Town to clarify what she had just pieced together. Lotte still had a small part of his old self left inside what had become known as Arakune. He had spoken in coherent words and sentences unlike every other time before the last. A part of her thought that maybe it was just a coincidence when he managed to say her name but now she was sure he was still in there. If that much of him was left inside his body, she knew there was a chance to save him.

She gathered Lotte's former notes as well as her own research one more time, applying her newfound knowledge of the Boundary to make sure she had come to the right conclusion. Too many events had occurred in the past few weeks surrounding Ragna the Bloodedge, the NOL and the Azure Grimoire. Everything appeared to be connected in some way.

"Everything fits" she uttered. "Before any of this happened to him, he probably came to the same conclusion. The Azure Grimoire." She questioned how far into his corruption Lotte was if he had figured it out. He could have discovered the truth mere moments before he became Arakune or it could have been weeks beforehand and realized he couldn't make a difference to his condition.

Litchi set the papers down and tried to recall how long it took for Lotte to begin losing parts of his memory. It was hard to tell. He often locked himself in to his lab to focus on his research and experiments. All she knew about the memory loss stage was that t it could start happening at any given time and it was possible that she wouldn't even realize it happening to her. If she still wanted to save Lotte, she saw only one other option.

She had to join the NOL for their knowledge and resources.

Finished with the papers she was looking through, she gathered them and put them back in their original places. "Do I really want to join the NOL though?" she thought. "What would everyone think of me then?" Litchi turned to the closest window. The people of Orient Town had made their dislike of the NOL clear. What would it mean for her if they found out she left them to join the organization they hated just to satisfy her own desires?

"No. If I stay and continue working on a way to cure him, I could end up like him. The best thing I can do for them is leave and protect them from… myself" Her voice weakened at the image that came to mind: her body degrading into one like Arakune's.

She always knew there was a chance of it happening but the closer it came, the more it haunted her. Losing her memories and then her body was something she had had nightmares about ever since she started drawing power from the Boundary. She would wake up with tears in her eyes and examine herself to make sure she was still retaining her form. Trying to sleep again afterwards proved near impossible. Once it had entered her mind, the thought remained for some time. Whatever she chose to do, leave for the NOL or stay in Orient Town, she vowed to do all she could to prevent her nightmares from becoming reality.

She still had one way to truly avoid that fate: giving herself up to Kokonoe and Sector Seven. She gave the offer careful thought. If she left to join the NOL, there would be no going back. Kokonoe's patience with her was already wearing thin and the act would be the last straw. After betraying her trust like that, Litchi didn't know what to expect from her.

On the other hand, she considered what would happen if she did decide to return to Sector Seven. She wouldn't have to worry about her corruption. She wouldn't have to spend countless hours trying to find him or trawl through page upon page of everything she could gather about the Boundary. Her life would return to normal. She truly wanted to take that path if it weren't for the immediate problems she saw: everything she had done so far would be a waste and Arakune would continue to wander around with no interference from her. Her theories had been the cause of the creation of Arakune. She was responsible for his actions. She had to be the one to stop him.

Slow and steady progress was being made towards a cure yet it always seemed so far out of reach. Kokonoe had made it clear that she would not help and from what she had been told, even if Kokonoe were to help her, there would be no way to turn Arakune back into the man he once was. With almost everything against her, returning to Kokonoe may well have been the safest and most rational choice to make however she shook her head at the thought. Her own words from years past returned to the front of her mind.

"I'll stay by your side."

If she gave up now, she would be breaking that promise and no matter how small of a chance she had, there was still a chance of saving him. He was in there somewhere and she would save him.

"I've come too far to stop now. If I succeed, everything will go back to the way it was and if I fail… I lose him and myself forever." As much as it pained her to do it, she stood, took Mantenbo with her and prepared to leave. She couldn't tell anyone about what she was doing. It would only make her feel worse.

"_Everyone, I'm so sorry but… I have to do this."_ With a heavy heart, she left her clinic and didn't turn back.

* * *

Hazama sat on a chair against the wall in the NOL Headquarters. He held a book in his hands and skimmed his way through a few pages. The book was his way of passing the time until a visitor arrived which he assumed would be in a few moments. He propped his hat up with a finger when he heard footsteps approaching and smirked knowing he was right to expect his visitor and to his assumption of their time of arrival.

"Ah, Litchi Faye-Ling, you showed up after all" Hazama removed his fedora and bowed. "I was beginning to think you were going to let the information I gave you go to waste. So, did you find out what you needed to find out?"

"Yes" Litchi replied after a pause. As usual, he knew more than he should. Why else would he have been sitting there waiting? As cryptic as it was to find that he knew almost exactly what it was that she was doing, she needed information, which she knew he could provide. "You have the azure too don't you? The Blazblue."

Hazama gave a slow clap. "Not a bad job there, figuring that out. Well, kind of anyway. This is just a copy of the original, which is pretty damn impressive to say the least."

"_So he does have it and he seems to know a lot about it too" _she thought. "How do you know so much about it?"

"Oh come now, that's not really important. Can't you just accept that there aren't a lot of things I don't know? I gave you some nice information about your little friend and that sure came in handy for you, didn't it?" Despite not being happy with his answer, Litchi backed off of the subject. He wasn't going to tell her anything directly. "Well then, I'd say that's enough beating around the bush" Hazama continued. "If you're here, then I assume you've made up your mind."

Litchi nodded. "I don't know what you intended to do by leading me to this decision but I'm running out of time and other options."

Ignoring what she had said, Hazama stepped forward and extended a gloved hand out to her. "So, what do you say? Pals, colleagues, acquaintances? Anyone of 'em is good." Litchi looked down at his hand, hesitant to take it.

"_I don't have much choice anymore" _she told herself. _"I don't trust him at all but… what else can I do? I… have to do this."_ As she slowly reached out to slip her hand into his gesture, a sharp and sudden pain in her head caused her to pull her hand back.

Hazama didn't appear to react at all to her pain and spoke further. "Oh dear, your head hurts again? Guess you are short on time after all."

"_Ugh, it hurts" _Litchi ignored what Hazama had said and kept to her thoughts. _"Is this like the other times when I was near the Azure?" _The pain didn't subside until her vision faded.

* * *

When her vision returned, she noticed that she was in an unfamiliar place. She had never seen anywhere like it in Kagutsuchi before. A large spire stood some distance before her with no other points of interest. Just in front of her, Hazama stood lacking his hat with his hair spiked. She would have questioned where she was and what was happening if Hazama hadn't started speaking first.

"I was gettin' a little bored there. Thanks, lady. Now I feel all energized" Hazama turned and faced the spire.

"High concentration of seithr? Are you trying to resurrect the Black Beast?" 'Litchi' questioned.

"_It's just like before" _she thought. The words she had said aloud hadn't even crossed her mind, she was still trying to make sense of the situation. _"This is another 'me'. I'm viewing another possibility but… how is this even possible?"_ From what she could tell, she couldn't interfere with this 'reality'.

"The Black Beast? What the hell would I want with that failed experiment?" Hazama looked at her as if she had offended him.

"Failed experiment?" she repeated. How could the Black Beast, the cause of the Dark War, be considered a failure?

"_The way he spoke about it… then that means…!" _

"Well, yeah. Didn't I say that? A huge failure" he confirmed. A smirk formed on his face as he continued. "But that black trash heap you're in love with? Even _bigger_ failure."

"What do you think you know about him!?" Her vision turned white as her other self finished. Hazama continued speaking but his words remained unheard by her.

* * *

Litchi let go of her head once her vision returned. "Feeling a little better?" Hazama leaned to the side to reach her eye level.

She kept to her thoughts and didn't respond to him. _"Was that really a vision of another reality like the others or did he make this one happen to me?" _She assumed it was a possibility since her first vision of sinking into the azure also occurred when he was nearby. _"But, if he did it on purpose, why would he show me that? He talked about the Black Beast and him and called them his failed experiments. Just what _are_ these visions?"_

"Hello?" Hazama waved a hand in front of her face, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Ah, that's better. You kinda spaced out there." Litchi said nothing and adjusted her glasses. "Now then, back to business. You gonna give our little deal a thumbs up?"

Litchi remained silent, still questioning what had just happened. She allowed a few seconds to pass before giving a response.

"No."


	2. Mask of Lies

Got the chapters mixed up by accident! Thank you Bunny153539 for pointing that out to me!

* * *

The moment she finished, Litchi took the time to think about what she had just said. She had told herself that she would do anything to save Lotte but did she really draw the line at joining the NOL? She had resolved to join them for their technology and resources however, with her decision, she would have neither.

"Hm? What was that?" Hazama opened an eye out of curiosity. He was almost certain that she would accept. She was desperate for anyone's help in saving Arakune and he was the only one to give her the golden opportunity she wanted. Why would she say no?

"What did you do to him?" She knew that her actions may well be throwing away the chance to save Lotte but she had too many questions concerning her latest experience and the others she had before.

"I don't know what you mean" Hazama shrugged. "I think your mind's starting to turn to mush 'cause I never did anything to the guy. Maybe you should think this over." He questioned where, if anywhere, he had gone wrong in convincing her. If he could find out why she declined, he would make a note of it in the event of a future continuum shift. With almost everything set into motion, he didn't want to start the whole process again because of the one variable of Litchi Faye-Ling.

"Don't pretend that you don't know" Litchi continued, glaring at Hazama in an attempt to force the answer from him. "You did something to turn him into what he is now!"

He was almost there. Just a little further until he found the anomaly. "Oh really? What makes you say that?"

"You don't remember? Wasn't he a failure like the Black Beast?" Litchi pressed further causing Hazama's brow to furrow in response. "Was he just another experiment to you?!"

Hazama remained silent for a short time. All of it fell into place. She had seen another possibility in the continuum shift. He had initially assumed that her headache was similar to what happened when he first approached her. After seeing a vision like what she had briefly explained, convincing her to side with him would be harder than first expected, though he still had something left to play on.

"Well shit, you really have figured it all out, haven't you?" Despite his calm visage, a fiendish aura seemed to radiate from him. "Being able to see through the Boundary temporarily wasn't something I expected to bite me in the ass but what can I really do about that?"

"What do you plan on doing with me now then?" Litchi stepped away from him.

"That's not really something you should be asking me" He closed the distance that Litchi had made from backing off. "I'd say you should be asking yourself that question." Litchi kept track of his movements and looked at him as if to ask why. "I don't think what you've just learned is going to change anything 'cause if you want to save that pile of bugs, you'll take the offer. It's that or keep working 'til you turn into something like him and kill a whole lot of people and nobody wants that, right?"

Litchi paused knowing that he was right. Even though she had found his true nature, he was still giving her a chance to save Lotte. She needed help to save him and he was the only person that actually offered that help. She thought that if he did consider Arakune a failed experiment, he must have known how to return him to normal. On the other hand, this was the man who supposedly created the Black Beast. If he had done something so evil in the past, what was he intending to do now?

"No" she muttered, her mind made up. Hazama raised an eyebrow, not expecting her to make the choice she had just made for a second time. "I don't know what you intend to do but I won't be a part of it" Litchi turned away to leave. "You managed to look through my unpublished research, found out so much about me and him through unknown means and to top it all off, you created the Black Beast. Even for him, I can't look past all that."

Hazama shook his head. He couldn't think of anything else short of forcing her to join the NOL. Force seemed to be the only way to make any progression with her if she remained adamant about her decision. To him, Litchi had become something of a small threat to the grand scheme. Her vision from moments ago showed her enough to change the outcome of the plan that he thought was guaranteed to succeed. The next time it occurred, it was possible that she could disrupt a much more valuable chain of events. Something had to be done about her.

He folded his arms and gave Litchi a look of disapproval. "Straight through plan A and B, that's a first. I really thought playing the card of you killing everyone you hold dear would get you and, while it's impressive that you brought it all together, you really should have kept your mouth shut." Hazama sauntered toward her.

"So are you going to kill me?" Litchi turned to face him again and braced herself, readying Mantenbou.

"Kill you? Oh, no no no, we've already made some plans for you and I'm going on ahead with plan C" the man smirked. "All you really did was make it just a teeny tiny bit more difficult for us to get you to tag along. Don't worry, we're going for a little walk to go meet someone and we'll all be the best of friends afterwards. It'll be fun."

"I'm not going with you" Litchi stood her ground. She couldn't think of anything that would help her in the slightest. If she fought, she would be defeated with ease. If she ran, he would catch her with the same ease. Even after all she had learned and the decision she had made, she was going to be taken away to help with whatever this man had planned. She knew she shouldn't have left.

"Right now, I'd be surprised if you said you were coming with me but oh well" Hazama drew his knives. "What would you prefer: being dragged off kicking and screaming or semi-conscious?"


	3. Seeing the Truth

Litchi said nothing, after all, she had nothing to say. Whether she liked it or not, she was going to be going with him. She was going to be used to further whatever plans this man had for her and from what he had said, she assumed that he intended to have her will bent to whatever he saw fit. Knowing that resisting would prove pointless, her stance became slack.

The sound of a gust of wind nearby caused her to body to tense up once more. How could there be a gust of wind here of all places? Without looking, she knew someone else had just appeared with them. Was this the person Hazama had just talked about? If so, all hope was lost for her. She turned to see a young girl holding an umbrella, which transformed into a cat-like creature.

"I'm surprised to see you here so soon, Terumi." The girl didn't appear to register Litchi's presence and kept her gaze focused on the man behind her. "I assumed you would be busy elsewhere yet I found you gossiping with this woman." For a moment, her eyes shifted to Litchi.

Hazama groaned. "Real bad time for you to show up you little bloodsucker." He tipped his hat forward and scratched the back of his head. "And it wasn't so much gossip as it was, shall we say, a business deal."

With the knowledge that this wasn't the person Hazama had been talking about, Litchi felt like now would be as good of a time as any to make her way out. She could already tell that these two knew each other and also weren't on good terms. Hazama gave the impression that this girl's entrance annoyed him so escape appeared to be a possibility. She took a step back, something Hazama took note of straight away.

"Hold up a sec there" the suited man gestured to the point where she had been standing before. "This shouldn't take too long so could you stay put for a few minutes?"

"I'm intrigued to know why you have an interest in recruiting her" Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Her specialties do not coincide with your previous works at all."

"_Does she know me somehow?"_ Litchi wondered. _"I've never seen her before." _She continued to wait in silence to see where the conversation would end up.

"Lemme ask you, is this really worth your time?" Hazama tilted his head. "Wouldn't you rather be stalking your good buddy Ragna?"

"How I spend my time is none of your concern" Rachel shrugged off his second statement. "How you spend yours might be something I need to look into however."

"Like I said before" he approached Litchi and placed an arm around her shoulder. "We were in the process of making a deal that would be useful to the both of us. Isn't that right?"

"That's enough!" Litchi pushed Hazama's arm off of her and stepped away from the two. "Just who are the two of you?"

"And what do you hope to achieve by knowing that, hmm?" Hazama questioned. "You know what I intended to do before she showed up so I think you have all you need to decide on something."

"I've made my decision but I want answers" Litchi folded her arms and turned to Hazama. "I can't even begin to trust you from everything that's happened." She faced Rachel as she continued. "Then this girl suddenly appears from nowhere and barely acknowledges my presence despite both of you do nothing but talk about what's just happened concerning me. I want to know who both of you really are."

"Hey, show some respect to the princess, lady" Gii cut in. "You don't talk to her like that." Nago shook his head at his companion's comments, knowing what would happen if he continued.

"Quiet" Rachel had spoken to the bat creature but didn't turn towards him. As if to humor her, she looked in Litchi's direction. "So what did you think of what he said before I made my appearance?"

"I don't want anything to do with him" she replied in a firm tone.

"Well then, what are the two of you doing here?" Rachel questioned, her tone unchanging. "You've made your choice clear and convincing her otherwise may prove tiresome wouldn't you say, Terumi?"

"Terumi?" Litchi narrowed her eyes. She knew that name. "Wait, Terumi of the Six Heroes? You're him?"

"The one and only" A sigh escaped the green haired man as he kicked the ground. "But let's say I don't really want to look back and share some stories okay? Also, you're right, this _is _tiresome. Dealing with both of you at the same time really took it out of me." His knives returned to his pockets along with his hands. "So since I really don't feel like playing with the vampire at the moment and I can't force you to tag along, the deal's off, doc. Go back to whatever it was you were doing and let me know how living as a trash heap works out for you, okay? Buh-bye." Hazama turned on heel and waved as he left.

Litchi and Rachel watched Hazama take his leave but said nothing. Out of earshot, Hazama muttered to himself. "Shit, leave it to the vampire to royally screw up everything. Guess we're gonna be improvising from here."

When Hazama left their sight, Litchi sighed in relief. To her, it felt like a heavy burden had been removed from her shoulders. Even though she had managed to escape his clutches, she still had questions about Rachel. "From what he said, are you actually a vampire?" From the look of her, Litchi thought that she at least looked the part. If there was truth to what was said though, she had a bad feeling about what could potentially happen next.

"Indeed I am" Rachel responded, still looking in the direction Hazama had left. "However I assure you that I do not intend to drain any blood from you like any vampires you may have read about."

Litchi sighed again. "I have to thank you. If you hadn't shown up, he would have taken me with him."

"My appearance was merely a coincidence" Rachel replied. "You already had what you wanted to do in mind though the execution was in need of various improvements."

"Even so, thank you" Litchi smiled.

"What do you intend to do now then?" she finally turned to face Litchi. "You have returned yourself to square one in your quest."

"I don't know" Litchi thought for a moment and looked to the side. "I should probably head home to think about it but before I do" Litchi returned her gaze to Rachel and narrowed her eyes. "How do you know about me? This is the first time we've met. I'm sure of it."

Rachel sighed. "Surely you know of them too, the alternate possibilities? Contact with the Boundary generally has that effect."

"I know that but it still doesn't explain anything." The more Rachel knew about her, the more concerned she became. "How do you know anything about what I'm doing?"

"It's rather simple and does explain everything if you put some thought into it" Rachel paused before continuing to give Litchi some time to piece the information together. "I was capable of viewing possibilities to a much greater extent and during that time, a meeting with one of your counterparts was inevitable."

"Princess, are you sure it's alright for her to know all this stuff?" Gii flew in front of Rachel in an attempt to stop her from saying more.

"He's right princess" Nago agreed. "There are some things that people like her shouldn't know."

"Yes, I am aware of that fact" Rachel turned to her familiars, silencing them. "However, when one is already capable of viewing alternate possibilities for even a brief moment, I'd say they knew much more than the ordinary person would ever need to know already. That, and she just so happened to view an event that not many have had the opportunity to."

"So, does that mean you've come into contact with the Boundary as well?" Litchi questioned. If she knew so much about her and if she had gained the ability to see these visions from the Boundary, Litchi assumed that she might be able to share knowledge about Lotte.

"I have not made contact with the Boundary so you experience it differently to how I do" Rachel answered. "Until the end of last year, I could view them as I wished but was only allowed to observe the events up to that day."

"The incident with Ragna the Bloodedge" Litchi muttered. _"That event again… why does everything keep coming back to it? And 'only allowed to observe'? Does that mean someone or something prevented her from intervening?"_

Ignoring what Litchi had just muttered, Rachel continued. "In fact, the one you seek to aid could also achieve a similar ability. However, it is unlikely due to the state of his mind."

"You know about him?" Litchi replied as soon as she had finished. This could be her chance. If she had seen the same loops in time so many times, she must know something. "Please, anything you know would be helpful."

"There isn't much to say" Rachel gave an uninterested reply. "I know of that man but it changes nothing. It is as Kokonoe and the Red Devil have said; the chance of reversing what has happened is slim at best. No one is supporting you and your quest is currently not proving fruitful so why do you feel that you must go so far for him?"

Litchi looked at the ground. "I promised him I'd stay by his side. I want to keep that promise." She faced the vampire again. "Even if it's only a small chance, it still means that it's possible to save him. That's all I need."

Rachel didn't respond for some time. Litchi had the necessary determination for what she was trying to accomplish, yet that same determination had almost blinded her from morals and made her consider siding with Terumi. Even though she had kept herself uninvolved in the grand scheme for the most part, she was an interesting but stubborn person.

"Just one last thing" Litchi broke the silence between the two. "Do you know what Terumi was planning to do with me? If he was one of the Six Heroes, why is he doing this?"

"My, you're certainly full of questions" Rachel raised an eyebrow. "To answer your first question, no, I don't know what he planned to do with you and neither do I know what he intends to do now. As for your second question, you may want to ask a former colleague for the answer."

"A former colleague?" Litchi repeated. _"She probably means Kokonoe. I'll ask her if I get the chance."_

The vampire nudged Nago with her foot, signaling for him to transform back into his umbrella form. "I'd say you know enough for the time being so I'll be taking my leave. Because of your questions, I currently have little time to spare."

"I apologize for keeping you" Litchi bowed. She realized that from Rachel's point of view, her questions were trivial"Thank you for the information." Litchi turned and headed toward the exit to return home until Rachel spoke once more.

"It might be in your interest to head that way" Rachel pointed to a corridor to her left. "You may be of some help to someone." Confused, Litchi turned back to her. She could tell that Rachel wasn't lying to her; after all she had just provided her with valuable information. "In time, you would also be wise to consider what your role will be."

Litchi took what she said to heart but didn't reply. As she headed towards her new destination, Rachel said nothing more and progressed further into the building in a different direction.


	4. Justify the Hurt

Litchi wondered what was supposedly happening deeper into the headquarters where she had been told to go. Rachel hadn't told her who was nearby or what they were doing but if she could be of help to them, she would see what she could do. If Rachel had asked her specifically to look in this direction, Litchi assumed that this someone she would find would be someone she knew but if that was the case, who would be in the NOL headquarters out of all the people she knew?

The end of the corridor came into view a few moments after her thoughts concluded. She stood in silence to listen for any possible indications of who or what was ahead. Faint clashes of metal could be heard as well as some voices, that she couldn't recognize from this distance. Not wanting to be dragged into the conflict between the people up ahead, Litchi progressed with caution. She remembered what Rachel had said about being able to help but she wouldn't recklessly throw herself into danger.

She approached the archway and kept herself hidden behind it. The voices were clearer now, one of which she recognized.

"How could you do that to her, you monster!"

"Carl? This is where you went?" Litchi whispered. She had heard that he had been able to escape from Bang's watchful eyes while she had been out of her clinic but to find him here was a surprise to her.

"Ignis" a second voice stated in a calm voice. Another clash of metal followed. Litchi didn't recognize the second voice but assumed that this was the reason why Rachel said someone needed help. She leaned forwards to see what was happening, still trying to keep out of sight. Carl was in sight along with Ada along grappling with a similar looking marionette. She looked further around the archway to spot the other man. He stood back from the marionettes with an unreadable expression hidden by a mask.

"Carl seems to know him but who is he? Litchi narrowed her eyes at the man. There was something she didn't like about him other than the fact that Carl was acting hostile towards him. She moved back out of sight before she was seen. What was she supposed to do to help Carl? Attack the man now or wait for an opportunity to present itself? It turned out that she couldn't do either when she heard him speak again.

"We have an unwanted guest spying on us, it seems" the man spoke in the same tone as before. "Show yourself." Litchi froze. When had he seen her? She didn't see him look in her direction at all. With no more reason to hide, Litchi stepped out from behind the archway. Both marionettes disengaged from combat and stood by.

"Miss Litchi?" Carl seemed as surprised to see her as she had been to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"I was told that someone was around here so I came to investigate" Litchi explained. She turned to the opposite figure. "And who is this?"

"My father" Carl growled. "Relius Clover."

"You father?" Litchi scowled at Relius. "How can you act like this to your own son?"

"How I treat him is none of your concern" Relius replied. "Had you been here sooner, you would have seen him begin the hostilities himself."

"After what you've done to me and sis, you deserve it" Carl spat.

Litchi attempted to calm the boy down. "Carl, I don't claim to understand what's happened but you're still hurt. You still need rest."

"He's the one who did this to sis!" Carl yelled back at her. "I have to- I need to stop him!"

"In the state you were in when I last saw you, you can't keep going on like this" Litchi continued to try to calm him down. He wanted revenge so desperately but he was allowing his rage to blind him from all else.

""I think you'll find that I'm fine" Carl scowled.

"How? Your wounds before were…" Litchi stopped herself, realizing what must have happened. "Carl, you didn't take that drug did you. The side effects should be affecting you right now."

Relius appeared to ignore the conversation between them. "Ah, now I remember you. You worked with Kokonoe some time ago."

"You know the professor?" Litchi asked as she turned back to face Relius.

"Of course, Kokonoe helped me build this Ignis. She seemed intrigued by my offer to create a Nox Nyctores. We both learned so much in the process and it was all possible thanks to the last subject" Relius smirked at the memory and gestured to Nirvana.

"Don't talk about her like she's just a thing!" Carl yelled once more.

"Isn't that all the soul is? A 'thing'?" Relius questioned. "I have already taken note of the improvements you have made for the capabilities of Nirvana so you must understand it too. The soul is something to be used to further one's own research."

"That's a lie! I had to help her after what you did!" Litchi placed a hand on Carl's shoulder. When Carl looked up at her, she shook her head.

"Don't let him provoke you" Litchi told him.

Relius ignored his son's outburst and shifted his attention to Litchi. "If I remember correctly, I believe Hazama had taken an interest in you." Litchi scowled. She knew something about him was sinister. He was working alongside Hazama. "If everything on his side has gone to plan, you should be making preparations for the next few steps."

"What's he talking about?" Carl asked Litchi.

She shook her head. "It's nothing. Not anymore anyway." She felt that Carl didn't need to know about what she had almost done. She faced Relius, reaffirming her choice. "I'm not cooperating with whatever you plan to do."

"Is that so?" Relius gave a light chuckle. "Hazama was certain you would be willing to do anything to help your colleague. Roy, was it?

Litchi widened her eyes. "You know him as well? How?"

"He, along with Kokonoe and myself, was present for the creation of Ignis" the puppeteer recalled. "To say that he helped would be a gross overstatement however. He continued to give the impression that he was rather incompetent."

"_I've never heard anything about this before so it must have been before I became Kokonoe's apprentice" _she thought. _"Should I ask Kokonoe about this too?_

"If that's the case, then you are no longer needed" Relius raised a hand and gestured toward Litchi and Carl. "Ignis."

"Ada!" Carl immediately responded, commanding Nirvana to assume a defensive stance.

"While the improvements you have made are impressive, Ignis is the superior model" Relius stated. "You won't be stopping me as you said you would, instead the two of you won't be leaving here."

Ignis lunged forward towards Carl and Litchi before Nirvana could react. Out of instinct, Litchi pulled Carl behind her to protect him even if it meant she would die in the process.

The moment she did so, she froze. She blinked and found herself in an unknown location when her eyes opened again. She turned her head and saw Carl behind her with shock written over his face. Behind him lay a dismantled Nirvana. She faced forward and saw that Relius was gone and in his place was a robotic-looking girl. The girl had summoned a sword from the air headed in her direction. She watched the sword make its way toward her in slow motion. She blinked again before the sword hit her and found herself back in the N.O.L headquarters with everything as it was before the vision.

Litchi shook her head as if to shake out the pain her brief vision brought. _"Was… that another vision? It looked almost like what's happening now. Does that mean I only see these visions when something in this timeline happens that's similar to another?" _Caught up in her thoughts, she appeared to forget about her situation.

"Miss Litchi!" Carl yelled. From his point of view, Litchi looked like she had fallen into a kind of trance. She stood in front of him, not even raising Mantenbo to defend herself. Was she intending to give her life to let him escape?

At Carl's yell, Nirvana teleported in front of Litchi and blocked Ignis' strike with an arm. The sound of the clash snapped Litchi out of her thoughts and caused her to gasp when she noticed how close she was to being impaled. Nirvana wrapped its other arm around Litchi and Carl and moments later, the marionette teleported again and took them away from the scene.

"You never cease to surprise me, Ada" Relius mused. With other business to attend to, the man turned and headed into the lower levels of the headquarters.

* * *

Outside the headquarters, Nirvana let go of Carl and Litchi and stood by. Litchi looked around to confirm where they were now. She was still concerned about what happened when she threw herself in the way of Relius' attack

"Nirvana, thank you" The marionette didn't respond as expected. Next to her, she heard Carl fall to his knees. "Carl, are you alright?" She knelt beside him. He said nothing. "Carl?" This time, Carl responded with a yell followed by pounding the ground with his fists.

"That bastard! How could he do that to her?!" he yelled.

"Carl, stop!" Litchi grabbed Carl's wrists to stop him from hurting himself. "What do you mean?"

"His marionette was called Ignis" Carl began. "That was my mother's name!"

"Your mother too?" Litchi's eyes widened. Carl then turned to her in anger, struggling against her grip.

"Let go! I could have avenged her if you hadn't turned up! You're working with him aren't you!?"

Litchi didn't let go. "No, I'm not" she replied calmly.

"He said those things about you working with a man named Hazama. The way you responded means he wasn't lying and you brushed it off like it was nothing" Carl accused her before she could continue.

"I'm not working with him" Litchi kept her voice calm but firm.

"Then how do you explain what he said?"

Litchi sighed. "He was telling the truth and I responded with the truth. The man he talked about approached me for that reason but I refused. That's all there is to it. You need to calm down. You're not thinking things through."

"I'm fine!" he insisted. "I've been looking for him all this time and you…" Carl's strength began to leave him. "Sis…" He turned towards Nirvana. She spoke with only Carl understanding her. "But, I…" The marionette interrupted him with her silent words. "Y-you're right." He faced Litchi once again. "I-I'm sorry Miss Litchi, it wasn't your fault." Litchi smiled and let go of his wrists. "It's just… he was right there." Tears formed in his eyes. "I could have…" He couldn't hold back the tears as they cascaded down his face.

"It's alright" Litchi wrapped her arms around Carl and brought him into an embrace. "I can't tell you that I understand your situation but I can do this much for you." Carl leaned on her shoulder and continued to cry.

Litchi gave him as much time as he needed to let all of his tears out. After a few minutes, Carl's tears subsided. He looked up at her, his eyes red. "Thank you, Miss Litchi. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"It's okay. I'm just glad I could help you" Litchi smiled. "Now, I'm going to be heading back to my clinic and you're going to be coming with me. Doctor's orders."

Carl smiled back. "I was going to ask you if I could come with you for treatment anyway. At least that way I know that I've been properly tended to."

Litchi nodded, leading the way back. "Come on, let's go."


	5. Tangled Web

"That should be everything" Litchi set the bandages she had just been using onto a table.

"Thank you Miss Litchi" Carl jumped off of the hospital bed and gave a polite bow. His previous wounds had been fully bandaged. Due to the effect of the drug he had taken, he didn't have as many wounds that needed tending to but Litchi insisted on going over the wounds she had seen him with before. Carl took his hat from beside where he had been sitting on the bed and set it back on his head. "I'm sorry I can't stay for any longer. Because of what my father said, I really need to find some information about…" he trailed off for a moment, looking down at the floor. "…Ignis."

Litchi's expression softened at the end of his statement. First his sister and now his mother. The boy had already lived through a lot and now had to endure more. She admired his courage and how he had managed to manage with everything being forced upon him.

"That's okay, I really shouldn't keep you any longer than I have. I know how important this is for you" Litchi placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "If there's anything I can help you with, feel free to ask me."

"Actually, I was just about to ask you before I left" Carl turned to Litchi and readjusted his glasses. "My father said he had help building Ignis from some people called Kokonoe and Roy and also said you worked with Kokonoe at one point. Could you tell me where I can find them or how I can contact them?"

Litchi stiffened at the mention of the second name. "You… won't be able to find Roy" she said in a quite voice. "He's… he's gone and I don't know where he is." She didn't want to involve Carl in what she was going through. Her previous statement was something she didn't want to say. To her, it sounded like she had given up on him but she felt that it was the only way to keep it to herself and not involve anyone else.

She shook her head as she went on to try to answer the rest of his question. Telling him about how to contact Kokonoe might not be such a good idea. She would most likely brush him off and ignore him or she might show an interest in Nirvana and try to take it away from him. Then again, she didn't know the exact relation between her and Relius other than the fact that they worked together. If she knew of the inhumane experiments Relius had performed, she might consider helping Carl with the information he was looking for.

"Kokonoe works for Sector Seven" Litchi answered after taking her thoughts into account. "It's not easy to get hold of her. She's almost always working and it's hard to catch her attention. Your best chance would be to find Tager. You know, The Red Devil."

Carl took note of Litchi's hesitation when he mentioned Roy's name to her. He initially wanted to press her further for information about him but he could sense that she genuinely didn't want to talk about him. After learning about Kokonoe, he nodded. "That sounds simple enough. I just need to get her to listen to me somehow. Thank you for the information."

"You're welcome" Litchi smiled. "Just try not to do anything too dangerous, alright?"

"I'll be fine as long as I have Sis with me" Carl looked over to Nirvana. The marionette lumbered over to his side.

"Okay but promise to look out for her as well" Litchi added in response. Carl smiled and nodded. He was glad that Litchi treated Ada as a person and not just a marionette.

"I promise" Carl reached for his hat and put it back on. Before he opened the door to exit, he turned back to Litchi and bowed. "Well, I should be leaving. Thank you for everything Miss Litchi. Ada's very grateful too."

"You're both welcome" Litchi waved farewell to the duo as they left the clinic.

"We've made some great progress this time, don't you think sis?" Carl looked up at Nirvana with a confident expression.

"…" Nirvana agreed with a nod.

"We'll try to find the Red Devil and get into contact with Kokonoe as soon as possible. After we get some information from her, we'll go after father." With their itinerary clear, the siblings set off in search of Tager. "Miss Litchi really helped us out. When I'm an adult, I'll try to be helpful just like her."

"…" If Nirvana could change her facial features, she would have given Carl a soft smile. Silently, she agreed with what he had said and accompanied him on their path.

* * *

After Carl and Ada left, Litchi sat down, rested her head on a hand and sighed. She felt so drained after what she had been through in the past few hours. All she wanted to do was mull everything over once more and think of where she should go next.

"Hazama was right" she murmured. "I'm back to where I started with not much to work on." Still, she took solace in that doing so, she stayed far away from what he planned to do and the chances of him actually fulfilling his side of the bargain appeared slim.

Litchi smiled. She had set out to cure Lotte when those visions, a sign of her of her own corruption, stopped her from making that choice and saved her from a shady future. As lucky as she thought she had been to see that vision at the time she saw it, she couldn't help but wonder what they were. According to Rachel, they were merely a result of her coming into contact with the Boundary but why had she only started seeing them now? Were they a sign that she was approaching her limit and she would start degrading soon? Rachel had said that Lotte was capable of doing the same to a greater extent, which only served to reinforce the idea that she was approaching the extent to which she could still control the Boundary's power. Litchi wished she knew more but Rachel hadn't been able to explain what caused them or how she was viewing them.

It wasn't just the first two visions that concerned her either. What she saw when she tried to protect Carl also disturbed her. What happened in the vision was very similar to what was actually happening, only in the vision, she would have died seconds later.

"If Hazama found out that I could see all those things, he probably wanted to use that ability for himself but how would it help him?" she wondered. Being able to see alternate timelines at random intervals only featuring her wasn't something that struck her as a useful ability for anyone else. Other than that, there was only one other thing she could think of: her links to Sector Seven.

Hazama had shown that he knew about Kokonoe not offering any help in saving Lotte so it was possible that he aimed to use her against Sector Seven as revenge. Litchi raised her head to think about it. She had said she would go to any length to save him but how far was she actually willing to go to save him? If she hadn't seen that vision, would she have betrayed Sector Seven? It was true that she had become a little annoyed that she couldn't garner any assistance from Kokonoe but it wasn't as if she would exact revenge on her for it. In the state she was in, she saw it as a possibility. She was desperate and Hazama was offering a cure.

What would she have been willing to do to create a cure if she had joined them? She didn't know but thankfully, she didn't have to. Any connection between her and the N.O.L was gone.

The question of what she intended to do from here on still remained. With no more leads, the only way forward would be to continue with her own research. However, by doing so, she would be acting against what she had resolved to do by joining the N.O.L: she would be risking the safety of everyone around her with the potential of completely corrupting herself. The thought plagued her mind once again. The people she knew disappearing from her mind, her body losing its form… the people she would devour to sustain herself. She shook her head to shake the images away but for as long as she continued to draw power from the Boundary, it could happen.

Litchi knew that there was no other way around it. To protect herself and others from that fate, she had to quit while she was ahead but she just couldn't do it. She had to be the one to find a solution to what had been deemed impossible and would be a scientific breakthrough if she managed to succeed. She didn't care about receiving recognition for reversing Boundary corruption; all she wanted was Lotte back.

Maybe if she could control when she saw visions of her other selves, she could find something helpful but it was easier said than done. Like almost everything else, she didn't know where or how to start doing so. From what she had experienced before, they occurred when she was near an azure based source or when the situation at hand was similar to that of another timeline. Neither seemed practical. The former involved her keeping close to Ragna or Hazama and heavily exposing herself to Boundary whereas the latter had her performing various actions in hopes that one of her other selves had done the same thing. All she could hope to do in regard to the visions helping her forwards was to continue on and count herself lucky if she saw something.

Deciding against learning to control when her visions triggered, Litchi thought about how she should proceed from here. She looked over to where she kept her research but turned away moments later. She had gone through it all many times before and doubted she could find much more with what she had. Looking for Tager to contact Kokonoe again also came to mind but was soon dismissed. After her reaction to not backing down earlier, Litchi doubted Kokonoe wanted to talk to her about a cure any time soon. Asking Ragna about his grimoire was a possibility that should help her greatly although finding him and then successfully drawing information from him would be difficult to say the least.

Litchi frowned at the similar fashion that all of her thoughts were ending in. "This isn't helping. All I can really do is look for him again. If I can help him find his mind, he can help me." His sanity before caught her off guard. Hearing him speak in coherent sentences had her elated. The more he spoke, the higher she thought the chances were of saving him. When he begged for death by her hand, she was thrown off of asking him anything and focused on trying to talk him out of it. Her thoughts kept her occupied until he couldn't hold himself together and escaped. Next time, she would be prepared for another breakthrough.

Litchi stood and prepared to leave. There wasn't much else she could accomplish with research. She just had to find him by herself as soon as possible. Her preparations were halted when a wave of dizziness hit her. Out of instinct, she reached around to hold on to something to prevent herself from falling. The first thing her hand came into contact with was a nearby table that she placed her flat palm on. Her vision didn't fade, something that Litchi was grateful for this time. The visions took a toll on her in the form of more painful than usual headaches that persisted for some time. She was still feeling the effects of her earlier sights and would rather not see another and pile on another headache. She hoped the dizziness was only a combination of everything she had been through today and would not be a recurring factor. Maybe it was a sign that she needed to rest and not overexert herself after what she had been through.

She remained where she was to regain her sense of balance and decided to postpone her search for Arakune until she felt better. When she felt she could walk some distance without having to support herself of anything, she pulled her hand back and stood up straight.

"I suppose I could sleep for a while" she thought. "I might feel better afterwards." She headed to her bed to do so until she heard a knock on the door. She was certain that she had closed the clinic but it looked like resting would have to wait. Litchi closed her eyes and sighed.


	6. Questions

Even though she would prefer to rest, Litchi decided to answer the door. She recalled closing her clinic before she left, as she was not expecting to return any time soon. Still, it wouldn't be like her to just ignore whoever was at the door. She opened the door and tilted her head to the side in confusion when she saw who was there: Kokonoe.

"Professor? What are you doing here?" Litchi questioned. She couldn't think of any reason for why Kokonoe would be visiting her at this time. It was almost a given that she had not come to offer assistance in curing Lotte and she didn't seem at all ill so why had she gone out of her way to come here?

Kokonoe removed the lollipop from her mouth before responding. "It's kinda complicated and a long story so can I come in first?"

"O-of course" Litchi stepped aside and pushed the door further open. She still couldn't place a finger on why Kokonoe would be here. The headache from her earlier feeling could wait, she had a chance to ask her the questions she needed answers for. "You're not sick or injured are you?"

"No I'm not" Kokonoe stepped in and followed Litchi to the living room. Her blunt response told Litchi that she was here solely to discuss something of utmost importance with her and nothing else. After both women sat down, Kokonoe began. "I'm here for some important business, like top secret and classified info style important. Stuff I probably shouldn't be telling you but I'll explain that when we get to it. Now, there's one thing I'm gonna make clear before I say anything: I don't want to hear anything about him unless it's absolutely necessary. On the flip side, I'm not gonna try and talk you out of what you're doing, okay?"

"I thought so" Litchi replied. "In any case, that's alright with me."

"Good" Kokonoe nodded in approval. "Okay, first things first and put simply, I'm gonna need you to let Ragna the Bloodedge stop off here."

"Okay" Litchi nodded, not seeing anything wrong with the request.

"'Okay'?" Kokonoe looked at Litchi, incredulous. "The Grim Reaper, the guy with the highest bounty in forever is coming here and you respond with okay?"

"He's not as bad as everyone makes him out to be" Litchi shrugged.

"What, you met the guy?" Kokonoe asked. She was expecting to have to convince her to let Ragna stay but she didn't think it would be so simple.

Litchi nodded. "Yes, last year. He was going to kill Arakune and… I stopped him." She was expecting to be admonished but Kokonoe stayed silent, save for a quiet groan. "I told him about what I was doing and he promised he wouldn't kill him."

"Huh, didn't expect that" Kokonoe admitted. The less said about Arakune, the more progress would be made, she thought. Kokonoe continued from where she left off. "But yeah, as easy as it was to get you to say yes to that, there's the question of why he's coming here. By the end of the day, you're gonna know what happened from either me or him so I figured I might as well fill you in."

"If you think I should know, alright." Since her meeting with Hazama and her talk with Rachel, Litchi suspected something big to already be in motion. If Kokonoe was offering to tell her about it, she would gladly accept.

"Keep in mind that this is the short version. We'd be here for a hell of a lot longer if it was the whole thing. You know a little about what happened at the end of last year, right?" she asked.

"Only vague details but yes" Litchi replied.

"Good, that'll save us some time" Kokonoe took a breath to start her explanation. "Best place to start from here would be with the Murakumo units, namely numbers 11, 12 and 13. Nu-13 was destroyed at the end of last year and Lambda-11… well I salvaged it and put Nu's mind inside for my own ends. Not proud of it but I had to. Lambda somehow broke out of the control I had and headed for Ragna. She sacrificed herself to save him from an asshole called Terumi."

"Terumi" Litchi muttered. _"Him again? Was he just out to kill Ragna?"_

Kokonoe heard Litchi mention the name as if she knew it well. She chose not to comment for the time being and continued. "Terumi was trying to smelt something using the Cauldron. One Noel Vermillion who became Mu-12 and to stop her, Ragna gave up an arm in the process." Kokonoe paused for a moment, wondering if she should tell Litchi about Amaterasu or Takamagahara. "As it turned out, Mu wasn't Terumi's only plan. Him, Relius Clover and the Imperator captured the master unit and disable Takamagahara, observers of the timelines. That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Questions?"

Litchi furrowed her brow. The explanation left several impressions on her. The Murakumo unit Kokonoe had taken control of for herself made her wonder what she had planned for it. Kokonoe had conveniently skipped around its purpose. Noel's name also raised suspicion. She had met the girl once and thought she was perfectly normal when, in reality she was a Murakumo unit. How was anyone to know that she was like that? The mention of timelines returned what Rachel had said about observing them to the front of her mind. Considering what she had been told and learned from earlier, she reached a conclusion she assumed was correct. "Does that mean time will stop looping?"

Kokonoe remained silent. Initially she didn't expect Litchi to know anything about it but recalled how far into her corruption she was. "You've started seeing them too haven't you? And you've been getting the headaches."

"Yes" Litchi looked to the side, knowing what Kokonoe was getting at. She didn't know about the visions but knew that Lotte suffered from various headaches before the final result of his corruption. She was reaching her limit too.

"From what you whispered to yourself, you know Terumi as more than one of the Six Heroes" Kokonoe pressed on, not wanting to go further into that topic. "What do you know?"

"He approached me and tried to get me to join the N.O.L" Litchi answered. "He found my research from when I worked in Sector Seven and said their resources could help cure Lotte."

"You didn't accept it did you?" Kokonoe looked at her with narrowed eyes. If she had accepted, not only would a lot of respect be lost for her, meeting her was a danger in itself if Terumi ever found out.

Litchi shook her head. "No. I saw through it." Explaining the whole situation would probably annoy her if she knew why he gave her the offer. She only needed to talk about the eventual outcome.

"Good. There would have been hell to pay if you did" Kokonoe relaxed as she thought about why Terumi would want Litchi on his side. Information on Sector Seven maybe? She couldn't think of anything else. "I don't know why he'd do that. Probably to get to me somehow but I'm not sure."

"Neither am I" She didn't expect Kokonoe to know why Terumi wanted her if she didn't even know herself. "I was told by a girl who said she was a vampire that you would know more about him."

"Rachel" Kokonoe groaned and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, she's right. I'll keep it short and sweet, that son of a bitch needs to die. Like I said, if you would have accepted his offer, I would have made you regret it."

Litchi had never seen Kokonoe like this. She had seen her angry plenty of times but this seemed far stronger than any anger she had seen from her before. "What happened between you and him?" Litchi dared to ask.

"He killed my mother and my aunt" Kokonoe kept her response succinct. Litchi gave a small gasp but said nothing. She wanted to say that seeking revenge on him would make her as bad as he was but right now, she didn't want to question her motives. Asking her about something else looked like a good way to move on.

"You said Relius Clover was with him" Litchi began. She assumed that Kokonoe help contempt for him as well but she wanted to find answers to her questions while she still had the chance. Anything about Relius would also help Carl if she could get into contact with him. "He said he worked with you and Lotte and created a marionette like Nirvana."

"You met him too, huh." Kokonoe sighed. The scientist didn't like how far Litchi had gone to get the information but she was in the process of telling her almost everything anyway. "The guy said he was trying to create a Nox Nyctores and that's what we did until he turned on us. Thought I killed him back then. Try not to take it as a compliment but he liked your research."

"I… see" Litchi wasn't entirely sure what to say in response. It could have been a reason why he and Terumi approached her, although Relius didn't recognize her at first so the chances of it being the case were significantly lowered.

"Since we're in the mood for questions, I've got one for you: how much have you seen?" Litchi knew what she meant without further explanation. Kokonoe was curious to know. She might be able to understand what Litchi had seen better depending on what she saw.

Even if they were focused on her, Litchi assumed something from any of her visions might be relevant to Kokonoe in some way. "It wasn't much but I saw myself and Terumi in a place I've never seen before. There was seithr everywhere, almost like the Black Beast was there."

"Probably the Cauldron" Kokonoe thought.

"There wasn't much said but he hinted at him creating the Black Beast" Litchi finished.

"Anything else?" What Litchi had seen was interesting but not that helpful to her, not that she expected anything huge. She had suspicions of Terumi creating the Black Beast from the conflict earlier.

"Not really, he spoke more but I couldn't hear any of it" Telling her what he had said about Lotte seemed pointless. Kokonoe most likely didn't want to hear any more about him. "The vision faded just after he said that. In another vision, I… almost watched myself die. It was a Murakumo unit."

"Well that's more than a little unsettling" Kokonoe skipped over the second vision's content and thought more about the meaning of the first. Something seemed off about the circumstances surrounding it. "When did you see the first one?"

"When I met him to give him my answer, why?" Litchi tilted her head. She couldn't see any reason for the question.

Kokonoe added Litchi's answer to the logic she had been building up. She felt she had all she needed to figure out what happened. "I get the feeling you're missing out something. You said you saw through it but you only saw that vision when you were giving him your answer. That suggests you met him earlier when he gave you the offer and you had time to think about it. After that, you found Tager and ran off after I didn't listen to you. So you met him after that and if you only saw through it then…" Kokonoe trailed off when she saw Litchi's eyes look to the floor. "If you didn't have that vision, you would going to say yes, wouldn't you."

Litchi said nothing and continued to avoid eye contact. Kokonoe sighed in disapproval. "I know you decided against it in the end but, come on, really? You thought the Library was gonna help?"

"You know how I feel about this" Litchi murmured in response. "I'm running out of time and options."

Kokonoe leaned back and looked at the ceiling. "We're not going over this again. I'm tired of it."

"I know" Litchi managed to move her eyes away from the floor and back to her mentor. "Now you know everything that happened surrounding that vision. I don't have anything else to say about it."

"Probably shouldn't have asked. I can see why you didn't mention it" Kokonoe continued to stare at the ceiling. "One more thing, would you really have told him to piss off if all you heard was about the Black Beast?"

Litchi knew that Kokonoe sensed there was something else she was missing out in the vision. She had most likely realized what she had thought before Terumi tried to drag her along by force. She kept silent, stalling to find an answer that made sense to keep her off of the topic again but as it turned out she didn't have to. The sound of the door opening and hitting the wall caught the attention of the two.

"'Bout time you got here" Kokonoe stood and made her way over to the door. Ragna kept himself propped up on the door frame by his remaining arm.

"Go to hell" Ragna spat, still breathing heavily. "I got here as fast as I could."


	7. Contemplating

Kokonoe smirked at Ragna's comment and stepped outside. Litchi could hear her talking to someone and was able to make out some of what she was saying.

"You took the parts back with you?" Kokonoe asked.

"Yes, I brought them as you requested." It was Tager's voice that responded, as expected.

"Good, that's all I needed you to do here. Now you go and start taking Noel to Ikaruga. Make sure she gets there."

"Hey, doc" Ragna's voice caught her attention before she could hear anything else being said. "Little help?"

"Oh, sorry about that" Litchi approached and wrapped Ragna's arm around the back of her neck to carry him through the clinic. "You didn't run into any trouble on the way back did you?"

"Nah, me and the Red Devil alongside each other probably made a lot of people think twice around the upper levels. The guys around here just kept their heads down."

Litchi nodded. "Yes, most people around here don't like to get involved with anything like that. The N.O.L isn't exactly popular on the lower levels."

"I figured as much. For my sake, I'm glad that's the case." Ragna shrugged. "So, you guys all know each other pretty well I take it?" He motioned with his head in Kokonoe and Tager's direction.

"We go back a few years. I used to work with them until…" Litchi let out a sigh before continuing. "Well, you know."

"Oh, that guy" Ragna recalled what Litchi had spoken about when they met. "Still carrying on with that, huh?" Litchi responded with a nod. "Well, good luck with that I guess."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me" Litchi smiled as she gestured to the bed she had walked him to.

"Nice to see the two of you shooting the breeze but we've got shit that needs doing." Kokonoe returned from talking to Tager, holding various parts in her hands. The heavy footsteps of the Red Devil could still be heard outside.

"What are those parts?" When Kokonoe set all the pieces down near Ragna, Litchi inspected them for any indication of what they were or what they were for.

"Lambda's regeneration tank" Her reply drew Ragna's attention in further. "I should be able to make a new arm for you out of 'em."

Ragna kept to himself for a moment. Thanks to Nu, he had been able to stop Terumi if only briefly and he would soon had the use of his missing arm again. "Why are you helping me? What's in it for you?"

"Someone asked me a favor." Kokonoe scowled at the memory. "I'm not naming names so I'll leave it at that."

"It was Jubei wasn't it." Litchi recalled her conversation with the hero earlier. He did mention his strained relationship with his daughter before they were interrupted. Kokonoe gave her a glare to confirm and prevent her from saying more about it.

"Anyway, the point is I'm making you a new arm out of these parts." Kokonoe continued in order to avoid the topic. "Shouldn't take too long since I've pretty much just have to stick it all together. While I'm working on that, can you clean him up, Litchi? He looks pretty pathetic."

Ragna muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes. "Rub it in why don't you." Kokonoe smirked as she sat to the side and started working on the construction of the new arm.

"I'll see what I can do." Litchi smiled. She imagined this was another reason why Kokonoe wanted to come here for Ragna's treatment. If it were just between the two of them, not much would be accomplished at any significant rate with the insults and sarcastic remarks they threw at each other. Or maybe it would have worked out fine, after all, from what Litchi knew, the two were working towards a common goal albeit with different methods.

Other than the missing arm, Ragna was covered with various cuts and wounds all over but what stuck out most was the clean hole just below his shoulder. Litchi inspected it and was somewhat surprised to see straight through the other side.

She opened a nearby drawer and took a roll of bandages out. "All I can really do about that is wrap some bandages around it so I'll need to take your coat and shirt."

Ragna slid his arm out of his coat sleeve and shrugged it off from his other shoulder in compliance. "Wasn't expecting much. Took a laser shot right through it."

"A laser?" It wasn't something she treated every day or something she expected to treat. Regardless, it didn't change what she intended to do in the first place. "Do you need any help with your shirt?"

"Would be nice." The Grim Reaper reached for his collar and did as best as he could in taking it off with one arm. Litchi came to his assistance after she noticed him experiencing some trouble.

Setting straight to work, Litchi began wrapping bandages around Ragna's shoulder. It was a simple enough job but in doing so, she found her eyes drifting to the Azure Grimiore on Ragna's arm.

"_I know I can't use it but it's so tempting."_ She tried to shake off the desire to look but continued to find herself drawn to it. _"It's right there in front of me: the one thing I know that should be able to cure him. I can't just take it from him so why do I keep looking at it?"_

Ragna noticed Litchi's hand make its way away from his shoulder and toward his arm. He moved his hand in front of her face and snapped his fingers several times. "Hey, snap out of it." His voice also caught Kokonoe's attention. "Keep that up and you'll end up like your friend."

Litchi jumped at his voice and pulled her hand away when she noticed where it was. "S-sorry, I… I don't know what came over me."

"You're losing it, that's what" Kokonoe turned in her chair to face them. "And don't give me that bullshit; you know what's happening. We've been over that before."

"Sorry." Her eyes travelled to the floor. The images of becoming something like Arakune appeared in her mind again. Her condition was worsening and at the rate it was progressing, she didn't have much time left.

The rest of Ragna's treatment passed by in silence. After her temporary blackout, Litchi was hesitant to continue but after a small amount of consideration, she decided to at least finish what she had started.

When she was finished, Litchi put the implements she had been using away and rested her head on her hand. Ragna's wounds had all been tended to and now she just had to wait for Kokonoe to finish.

"Go get some rest or something" Kokonoe looked up from what she was doing to give her apprentice a break. "It won't take too much longer anyway."

Litchi stayed silent and nodded. A short rest would make her feel better until she remembered her condition at least. She could hear some of what Kokonoe and Ragna were saying once she had left.

"Not gonna help her out with that? Her mind's starting to get ruined already."

"Yeah, we both realized that a long time ago and we've been over it plenty of times. What interests me is that you seem to care about it. Why's that?"

"She's nice and she's one of the few people I've met here who hasn't tried to kill me. That's about it."

Litchi smiled to herself and sat down in the living room. She found it humorous to hear the man wanted for so much money had some degree of trust in her. Her smile faded a moment after upon contemplating what Kokonoe had said. Kokonoe had said that she was willing to cure her own corruption but only hers. Behind her generally grouchy exterior, it appeared to be Kokonoe's own way of looking out for her, not that she would ever admit it. She was offering a way out but it came at a heavy price for her.

If she did so, she wouldn't be able to cure Lotte and she would essentially be turning her back on him. She didn't know if she could bring herself to take that route after everything she had been through already. Her not taking action had been the start of what happened and she wouldn't end it by giving up half way.

With the way it looked now though, the offer was becoming more and more tempting. The more she could feel the signs of her corruption progressing, the more frightened of her eventual fate she became. She thought she would be ready for the effects of the Boundary by the time they started appearing or at least be able to hold off the corruption for a little while. If not for what would be accomplished if she succeeded, she wouldn't think twice about turning herself in to be rid of her connection to the Boundary.

With her current decision, all she could do was persevere and continue by herself. As she found earlier, Kokonoe would not aid her in any way and from what she had said about Terumi, she had other things on her mind that she deemed more important.

Thinking back to it, Kokonoe had done a lot to try to kill the man, going so far as to use a salvaged Murakumo unit to do it and most likely more that she was unaware of. Litchi questioned the scientist's goals and methods but knew better than to try to convince her otherwise. If she did so, she knew Kokonoe would retort with the same questions and they would argue about who was in the right and attempt to justify their own methods. As reasonable as Litchi thought she had been, her requests for help were probably nothing more to Kokonoe than an annoyance that she wanted quieting. Even if that were the case, neither of them had any business with each other's affairs without imposing.

Footsteps caught her attention, making her look in their direction. Ragna stepped through the doorway, flexing his new arm. "Thanks for the help doc but I gotta be going."

"Someone's eager to leave" she commented. "How does the arm feel?"

"Not too bad" he rolled his arm as he spoke. "I'm used to the other one being fake so it's not much different. Still need some time to get used to it though."

"As long as you can use it alright, I can't keep you" Litchi stood to show him to the door. "That's twice I've helped you now so I don't want to have to see you again."

Ragna smirked. "Don't worry, I'm heading off some place else so I'd be surprised if I did."

"Okay then. I don't need to tell you to be careful, do I?"

"Jeez" Ragna muttered to himself and rolled his eyes. "Bye." He left, holding his right arm up as a wave goodbye. Kokonoe approached the door from the other room at a moment later to see him off.

Litchi motioned to close the door until Kokonoe stopped her. "Keep the door open, I'll going in a sec too."

"Where's he going?" Litchi watched Ragna walk a fair distance before turning to Kokonoe.

"Ikaruga." Kokonoe removed a lollipop from her sleeve and placed it in her mouth. "Lot of questions here, lot of answers there. I'm sending Tager there as well."

"_That's where Bang's from" _Litchi recalled_. "If Ragna's going there and Kokonoe's sending Tager there, it must have something to do with Terumi and Relius. What could they be going there for that needs answers?"_

"I don't suppose you're going are you?" the beastkin asked.

Litchi shook her head. "I don't have any reason to." She would like to go there at some point just to see the area but with the potential of conflict and her needing to stay in Kagutsuchi, she saw no reason for her to be there.

"Fair enough" Kokonoe shrugged. "I know I said I wouldn't but this'll probably be the last time we see each other for a while: you sure you're not gonna let me take care of your corruption?"

"I'm sorry professor but I just can't do that" Litchi looked away, the thoughts from a few minutes ago returning.

"Alright." Kokonoe stepped outside the door to exit "I'll save us the time by saying 'no, I'm not gonna help with your own problems' now." Litchi expected nothing different from her. As she finished, she began taking her leave. "Well then, see ya whenever Litchi."

"Bye professor" Litchi waved to her superior despite her not turning around. Not waiting to watch her walk further away, Litchi closed the door, finally left to herself.

* * *

_A.N.: Really, REALLY sorry for the wait on this chapter! This is almost the end of the story and there will be one more chapter after this one that will be uploaded tomorrow._

_Part of the reason for the delay was that I was going to combine this chapter with the next one but decided they would be better off as two separate chapters. Another part due to my writing of another story (read it if you want!). Other than that, sorry I didn't post sooner!  
_


	8. Promises to keep

A satisfied patient made their way out of Litchi's clinic, leaving Litchi and Linhua with a break from the patients for the day. "Linhua, that was the last patient for today right?"

Linhua looked around and spotted no one. "Nope, that was all of them. Are you going somewhere doctor?"

"Yes, I was going to go to the Kaka village to talk to the elder." After her confirmation, Litchi stood and prepared to leave. She had made plans to do visit the Kaka elder after noticing something different over the past two weeks. "I shouldn't be too long, I just need to discuss a few things with her."

Linhua gave a concerned look. "Is everything alright? You've been going out like this a lot more than you used to."

"Everything's fine, it's mostly just to clear my mind." Litchi gave a warm smile even though it hurt her to do so. It was an innocent question but she never liked hearing it. Whenever someone asked if she was alright, she would always have to lie about it. She didn't want to worry anyone with her problems and felt that it was best to not tell them anything about her condition and what she was doing. "I'll be back soon." She stepped out soon after speaking to avoid further questions.

"Doctor, why are you hiding things from us?" Linhua muttered to herself, the incident with Tager replaying in her mind.

Litchi headed toward the Kaka village weighing up a number of thoughts. Everything had become quiet around Kagutsuchi. She assumed it was most likely because Ragna had headed to Ikaruga, drawing officers from the N.O.L and bounty hunters away with him but that wasn't all. She had barely seen anyone from outside of Orient Town. While the peacetime was a welcome return to the norm, Litchi found it odd that she hadn't seen faces that she often saw. Taokaka usually stopped by frequently to visit, Bang was sometimes found near her clinic as well some others but they all seemed to have disappeared. She assumed that there was a connection between all of them and that the elder would know something about it.

* * *

"Everyone over here, it's the Boobie Lady!" A Kaka kitten sprinted toward Litchi the moment she came into view of the village. The nearby awake kittens perked up their ears at her shout and followed. Litchi knelt down to meet their eye level and waited for them all to congregate around her. Some had apparently taken after Tao and tried to grab at her breasts a number of times.

"Alright, alright, that's enough" She chuckled, fighting them off as best she could. No matter how many times she saw them, the kittens always warmed her heart. One by one they settled down to listen to what Litchi had to say. "I need to speak with the elder. Could one of you run along and tell her I'm here please?"

"Sure thing Boobie lady!" One of the kittens held her arm up to volunteer and dashed off in the other direction.

"We'll walk you over there!" Another of the kittens tugged at her arm and gave a toothy grin. Litchi smiled and stood, lifting one of the kittens as she did.

Outside the elder's hut, Litchi set down the kitten she had been carrying and waved them off before entering.

"So good of you to visit us again Litchi." The elder gestured to a nearby chair opposite hers.. "We haven't seen you in a while."

Litchi bowed before going over to sit down. "Thank you and it has been some time hasn't it. I apologize."

"There's no need to apologize. We've been managing just fine with Torakaka filling in as the village guardian while Tao is away."

"Tao's away?" Litchi inquired. That explained why she hadn't seen her over the last two weeks. "Where is she?"

"She didn't tell you?" The elder tilted her head to the side. "I thought you would have been the first person she told after us. She was heading off to Ikaruga along with Ragna the Bloodedge under Jubei's request. I'm sure she just forgot to tell you in her excitement."

"That sounds likely" Litchi chuckled. "But why did she go there?"

"She mentioned wanting to become stronger to protect us all after she got hurt a few weeks ago" The elder recalled how disappointed Tao had initially been when she was brought back to the village. "I imagine Jubei sent her with Ragna because she's taken a shine to the man. What Ragna's doing in Ikaruga, I can't say. I haven't seen him since he was here last. That would be when you came to treat him."

Litchi said nothing. So Tao had gone to Ikaruga along with Ragna because Jubei told her to? He wouldn't have sent her there only for training. Just what was in Ikaruga that had people so intent on going there?

"Oh yes, there's something I should mention" the elder told her. "It's about that creature you were looking for."

Litchi's attention was immediately caught. "What is it? Has he been attacking you again? I've tried to stop him but-"

"No, nothing like that" she waved a hand to cut her off. "The thing is, we haven't seen it at all. Torakaka hasn't reported anything like it appearing for a while now. We're beginning to think that it's gone."

"Gone?" Arakune couldn't be gone. She had watched him flee but to where, she didn't know. Since then, she hadn't found any trace of him either. It was doubtful that he would be hiding from her. He had returned to his normal self and would have tried to attack. He hadn't attacked the village either so maybe he had died from not being able to sustain himself.

Litchi shook her head at the thought. She couldn't think like that but it was possible. She didn't know what else to think about it though. If he had left the sewers, he would have been seen and some vigilantes would have tried to apprehend him.

It was then that she remembered something. Arakune had come to Kagutsuchi because he sensed the power of the azure coming from Ragna's grimoire. Since Ragna had left, there were no other sources that she could think of that would draw his attention.

"_He must have gone to Ikaruga." _She was sure of her conclusion. He was capable of blending in to his surroundings making undetected escape possible and his drive to obtain the grimoire would make him want to avoid anyone he came into contact with. Litchi stood. "Thank you elder. You've been very helpful but I have to go. I've decided I'm going to Ikaruga."

"My pleasure Litchi." The elder also stood with some effort. "I suppose this is goodbye for now then. Do look out for Tao if you see her there and if you could visit us again when you return, I'm sure it would make the young ones happy."

"I promise."

* * *

Litchi returned to her clinic a short time after she left the village. She had walked quickly, wanting to start on her voyage to Ikaruga as soon as possible.

"Oh, you're back" Linhua approached the entrance of the clinic when she heard the door close. "Did you find out anything from the Kaka?"

"I did." Litchi was in a hurry to look for anything she was sure she needed to bring with her. It wasn't a holiday. She only needed to bring absolute essentials, which meant travelling light.

"What are you looking for? Are you going somewhere else now?" Linhua looked confused at Litchi's haste.

Litchi nodded. "I found from the Kaka elder that I need to go to Ikaruga as soon as I can. That means I'm going to have to leave you in charge of the clinic while I'm gone. I'm sorry but I don't know when I'll be back."

"Ikaruga?" Linhua narrowed her eyes. "Why do you need to go there so suddenly? I've never even heard you say anything about it before."

"I'm sorry" Litchi stopped looking around and approached her assistant. "It's complicated."

"You always say things like that and you never even tell anyone so we don't know if it is or not." She didn't like her accusations toward Litchi but she felt that they had to be said. Linhua balled her fists and looked at the floor. "I saw you a few weeks ago with the Red Devil. You were fighting and you ran off."

"You saw that?" Litchi's eyes softened. She wasn't aware that Linhua had followed her and from what she had said, she assumed the worst from what she saw.

"Just tell me what's going on!" Linhua looked back up at her with tears in her eyes. "You're always leaving to go to places you don't tell us about, you come back here all beat up sometimes, you pass out when I know you're not exerting yourself, you're getting involved with Sector Seven again and now you're suddenly going to Ikaruga when you have no reason to!" She took several deep breaths once she was done. "Why can't you tell us anything? Don't you trust us?"

Litchi knelt down, looked her in the eyes and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know I do all of those things and I trust each and every one of you" She kept her voice soft, knowing Linhua had every right to be mad at her. "I _want_ to tell you everything, I really do but what I'm doing is dangerous. If anyone tried to help me, a lot of people would be hurt and I can't deal with that. This way, only I get hurt and I can protect everyone else. I can manage that."

"I don't want to see you hurt, I want to help but you won't let me!" Linhua attempted to wipe some of her tears away. "If we lost you, I don't know what would happen. If it's dangerous, let us help you. At least then we'd know what you were doing."

Litchi couldn't bring herself to look at her assistant's face and looked down. "I'm so sorry. I just can't tell you but I promise…" Mustering up her courage, she faced Linhua again. "As soon as I come back, I promise to tell you and everyone else everything. From when I was working for Sector Seven, about why I leave so often, why I pass out, why I'm leaving now, everything. I won't miss out a single detail. I owe you all that much. Until then, I also promise to come back safe and sound and if everything works out the way I hope it does, none of this will ever happen again."

Linhua continued to wipe the tears away from her eyes and sniffled. "A-alright, if you really mean it."

Litchi nodded. "I do. I won't forget but you can remind me just to make sure."

"O-Okay" She forced a smile. She wasn't satisfied with the answer for the time being but she could tell that Litchi was genuine when she made her promise.

"Thank you Linhua." Litchi stood and ruffled her hair. "Be good while I'm gone okay?" Linhua nodded. "Well then, I should get going. I'm sure you'll do fine."

With her belongings gathered, Litchi left her clinic again. Unlike before when she intended to join the N.O.L, she turned and faced her home after walking a short distance away.

"Everyone, I'm sorry to be leaving again but when I come back, you'll have your doctor again. Permanently."

_Twist in Time - End_

* * *

**A.N**: And there you have it; the end of the story!

It's been left nice and open to continue when the story mode from Chrono Phantasma is released so look forward to that in the future! I know there are Arcade Mode story translations floating around the internet but I think it'll be better to wait for console story mode to carry on with this storyline.

Speaking of Arcade Mode stories, I'm working on something related to Litchi's (no surprise there) which will hopefully be coming soon!

Until then, I hope you enjoyed reading and look forward to my future updates. :)


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